Westminster lacrosse: Griffins rally falls short against BYU

SALT LAKE CITY — The Westminster College men’s lacrosse team came up short in a 13-8 loss to Brigham Young on Saturday afternoon at Dumke Field. Westminster (11-5) had its five-game winning streak snapped and lost at home for just the second time this season.

Westminster trailed throughout the afternoon as Brigham Young (12-3) got a goal from Partick Matheson just 47 seconds into the game. Trailing 2-0 midway through the first quarter, the Griffins got their first goal of the contest from Cole Christensen from a nice pass by Collin Madsen. After Zach Jordan gave BYU the 3-1 advantage, Kyle Postler would strike for the Griffins with five seconds left in the quarter to make it 3-2 after one.

BYU opened the second quarter with a goal from Mike Fabrizio before Brian Tyrrell answered for the Griffins at the 3:01 mark of the second quarter. The Cougars would score twice in the final minute of the half to take a 6-4 lead into intermission. The two teams would then trade goals in the third quarter, and BYU led 7-4 heading into the final stanza.

After Chase Paulson and Mickell Walker scored the first two goals of the frame for BYU, it was the Griffins that scored four of the next five goals to pull within 10-8 with 6:31 to play. Madsen scored twice during the run with Pat Hagan and Christensen adding the others. After Westminster had a chance to cut the deficit down to one, BYU answered with the final three goals of the game and the 13-8 victory.

Westminster finished the game with 32 shots attempted and put 20 of those on cage. The Griffins had 19 successful clears in 24 attempts and scored on one of their six man-up opportunities. BYU claimed 13 of the game’s 22 faceoffs and took 36 shots with 25 on cage.

Madsen led the Griffins with four points as he had two assists with his two goals. He took seven shots in the game with five on target and also picked up five ground balls. Elias Fairman finished with a team-best three assists, and Christensen had two goals and one assist. Chris Burckle suffered the loss in goal despite making 12 saves.

Fabrizio led the Cougars with four goals on nine shots. Paulson added two goals, and Jayden Haws went for one goal and one assist. Rob Ostler came up with 12 saves to earn the win in cage.

Westminster will conclude the regular season on April 20 when it plays Utah. The game will begin at 7 p.m. and be played at Judge Memorial High School.